How To Make Homemade Laundry Soap - An Easy Recipe

Making homemade laundry soap is very easy to do, costs pennies per load and you control the ingredients. I've always had good results with my recipes. I use the liquid because I always wash in cold water. The powder works great too and is less trouble to make. Either way I think you will be pleased with the results.

Making Your Own Vegetable Stock In 3 Easy Steps - And It's Practically Free!

Don't you love getting things for free? Making your own vegetable stock is very easy and it's almost free too! 

Kidney Bean and Vegetable Salad - An Almost No Cook Easy Vegetarian Recipe

It's getting hot here in the South. When the temperature rises, I feel less and less inclined to turn on my stove. And now my air conditioner is on the fritz. By dinner time the house is muggy and hot. So, until my handy-dandy air repair man gets here, I'll be making dinner ahead during the cool morning hours. This recipe is versatile and easily doubled. It can be used as a main dish or side dish. Great for a BBQ, church get-together, picnic or for the lunch box. Here is my version of an almost no cook vegetarian bean salad....

The Cash Envelope System - Free Printable Cash Envelope

                                                        

Did you know that you can print your own cash envelopes? The cash envelope system is becoming very popular. I have used the system in the past, but it doesn't work for me personally. So what prompted me to make templates?

Bargain Meal of the Week - Monster Chicken Wings and Grilled Corn

Most grocery stores are gearing up for July 4 cookouts. This means great bargains on ribs, chicken, hamburger and hot dogs. Now is a good time to stock up and save some money. Over at $5 Dinners, I contribute to the Bargain Meal of the Week. Based on this weeks ad I suggest....

Carolina Red BBQ Sauce - Easy Homemade BBQ Sauce Recipe

Even though BBQ sauce can be cheap to purchase, I like making my own. I can add some heat with red pepper flakes, make it sweet with honey or smoky with liquid smoke. The flavor is completely up to me and my mood. 

How to save money while doing the laundry

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] 6 smiling women under tenement clothesline; caption reads: "Do we look cheerful? Washing clothes is pretty hard work generally, but if you use Kirkman's Borax Soap according to directions, it's really wonderful how it lightens labor and...makes clothes sweet as a rose and white as snow". (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

Let's face it, clothes are expensive. Taking care of those clothes can also put a big hole in your budget. By the time you buy all the products 'needed', wash and dry your laundry, you've taken a huge hit.  I budget very little for laundry. In fact, only a very small potion of our food/household budget is used for cleaning and supplies. Here are a few ways I cut back on my laundry expenses.

My Weekly Household Planner Page With A Free Printable

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] English: Kanazawa Station (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

As I have explained in a previous post about planning , I have a busy schedule. I think we all have busy schedules in one way or another.  One way I keep track of everything is my Household Planner. It keeps me on task, on time and my house running smoothly.

I know most people now have phones with apps that will do what my planner will. But...

The 10 things I do before breakfast to keep me sane

[caption id="attachment_1068" align="aligncenter" width="230"] I'm not crazy... right?[/caption]

I have my morning routine down pat. I do the whole routine start to finish on cruise control. No matter what time I have to get up and be at work (there are days I'm up by 4 am) I do my best to get these 10 things done. If I do them, my day goes much smoother, I feel more in control of my day and my afternoons are easier. Drum roll please....

Easy Potato Recipe - Potato Pancakes

[caption id="attachment_1045" align="aligncenter" width="614"] Potato Pancakes with squash and zucchini[/caption]

I love to make potato pancakes. These crispy, slightly oniony pancakes are a savory addition to any meal, even breakfast {similar to hash-browns}. It's a good way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. Potato pancakes are a versatile base for many ingredients. You can add shredded veggies, garlic, chives, cheese... your imagination is the limit. 

Chicken Recipe - How to stretch 1 chicken into 8 meals in 7 easy steps

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Yesterday I lucked up on an unbelievable sale! An 8 lb Perdue Whole Roaster Chicken was on sale for $1.08 a pound! This is a vegetarian fed, cage free, antibiotic and hormone free bird. So of course I grabbed one. Instead of oven roasting it, eating what we could hold and freeze the rest, I decided to do this:

Would you like to win this awesome drying rack? Weekend Giveaway! Ya can't beat free!

This contest has ended. Thank you to everyone who participated.

 

I can't think of a more frugal way to dry clothes than outside on a clothes line. But sometimes you can't hang your clothes outside- rain, snow, not allowed in your neighborhood etc. So what's the next best thing? An indoor drying rack of course! I have three indoor drying racks and I love them!

[caption id="attachment_1032" align="aligncenter" width="614"] Honey-Can-Do Commercial Chrome Drying Rack[/caption]

What Is Chamomile - Home Remedies With Herbs

This is one tea I think every household should keep on hand. The uses for chamomile are endless. It makes a mild flavored tea and is easily combine with other herbal teas for home remedies.

Chamomile is an herb and a member of the daisy family. Some active ingredients in the flower are flavonoids, apigenin,  luteolin and quercertin. These ingredients contribute to chamomile's anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic and smooth-muscle relax action, especially in the gastrointestinal tract.  

Why You Should Never Eat Boxed Mac & Cheese - Easy Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

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Got home late from work and need to get dinner done in a hurry? That's me most days. I am always looking for quick ways to get dinner on the table. It's so easy to run to the cabinet and grab that box of macaroni and cheese as a side dish. Homemade takes too much time right? No. In fact, it takes the same amount of time to make my macaroni and cheese recipe as the 'blue box' kind.

Happy National Peanut Butter Cookie Day!

Don't forget to share some peanut butter cookies with your loved ones today =) And while your at it... Don't forget to send me your most awesome peanut butter cookie recipe! 

I'm Teaming Up With Erin Chase at $5 Dollar Dinners

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

I am very excited to be linking up with the famous Erin Chase at $5 Dollar Dinners to bring you The Bargain Meal of the Week for Ingles sales ads. Each week I will create a meal based on the Ingles current sales ad. Planning your menus around the sales ads saves loads of money and time. I've been doing my menus this way for years. When items, such as meats, are at rock bottom prices- stock up, freeze it and save money.

National Peanut Butter Cookie Day Is June 12 - A Simple 5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

I'll be celebrating by making this recipe from Kraft:

Kale and Tomato Pasta - A Simple 5 Ingredient Recipe

Cooking the pasta and kale in the tomatoes with some added water saves time and is a clever short cut with this recipe. We like this dish as a light lunch or side item. With only 5 ingredients it is full of vitamins and it's cheap! This recipe should feed 4. 

Chicken Recipe - Honey Ginger Stir Fry

This chicken stir fry is sweet yet savory. The veggies are the star of the recipe with a small amount of chicken added in for flavor. I use my cast iron pans because they are the only pans I have. If you have a wok, feel free it use it. I have limited cabinet space which equals-Limited kitchen gadgets  I love this recipe because it ticks off all my favorite boxes -

• Simple


• Quick


• Cheap

It should feed 4 with normal size potions. We (there were 2 of us) ate this for dinner,  I had it for dinner the next night and took it to work for lunch the next day. Zero waste and it was just as yummy the third time around.